


Don't Stop (This Healing)

by 0bviousLeigh



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Pretty U music video inspired, Swearing, blink and you'll miss it verkwan, time stops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-10 15:36:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20854145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: There’s no cars passing by, no people waiting at the bus stop, nobody manning the fruit stand at the corner. The street below is absolutely still. Joshua finally glances at his clock—it’s 9 AM. He feels the blood drain from his face, there should never be stillness in Seoul, especially not at 9 AM.





	1. Fear

“WAKE THE FUCK UP!”

Joshua jumps so bad he almost falls out of bed. “WHAT?!” He screams back, unsure of who’s even making a fuss at—what time is it?—god’s hour of the morning.

The fuss-maker continues, “THERE’S SOME WEIRD SHIT GOING ON!”

Ah, it’s Mingyu. Joshua groans and yanks the blanket back over his head. Whatever it is can wait.

The door bangs open so hard it knocks against the wall and this time, Joshua does fall off the bed. “Dude, what the hell?!” He demands.

Mingyu is wide-eyed and actually looks terrified. “EVERYONE’S GONE!”

“Stop shouting!” Joshua yells.

Mingyu runs to the window and yanks up the shade. “LOOK OUTSIDE!”

Joshua gets up and looks. “What’s wrong?” It’s a beautiful morning, the sun is shining, but there’s some clouds approaching, and on the street—

On the street…

There’s no cars passing by, no people waiting at the bus stop, nobody manning the fruit stand at the corner. The street below is absolutely still. Joshua finally glances at his clock—it’s 9 AM. He feels the blood drain from his face, there should never be stillness in Seoul, especially not at 9 AM.

“Holy mother of god…” he gasps. It’s like he and Mingyu are the only people on the planet!

Mingyu grabs him and shakes him. “I KNOW! It’s like we’re the only two people on the planet!”

A sudden vibrating noise makes them both yelp—Joshua’s phone is buzzing on his bedside table. He grabs it and checks the screen—it’s Minghao.

Relief floods Joshua immediately; Minghao’s calling, so…so he’s around, it’s not like he and Mingyu are the only two people left in the world. He’s being silly, of course that wasn’t the case. There must be an explanation, maybe there was an incident of some kind.

“Hello?” Joshua answers the phone.

“OH THANK GOD!” Minghao screams in his ear, and Joshua yanks the phone away and puts it on speaker.

“Calm down, please,” Joshua says, but Minghao shouts over him.

“I woke up and…and…everyone’s gone! All my roommates, I walked down the hall, I banged on doors, I looked outside! Everyone’s gone!”

He sounds hysterical. Joshua’s heart starts racing. “I’m here, and so’s Mingyu,” he assures. Mingyu runs from the room and Joshua hears him barrel out of the apartment. “Come down here, we’ll figure this out,” Joshua tells Minghao. He hangs up and decides to start texting everyone he can think of, but first he gets another call.

“Hello?” He answers—the phone is still on speaker, and it’s Seokmin.

“Oh, hyung!” Seokmin sounds relieved, “I just woke up and all my roommates are gone, and I looked outside…”

“And no one’s there?” Joshua finishes. “Yeah, me, Mingyu, and Minghao are discovering the same thing.” The four of them all live in the same building, so Joshua knows exactly what Seokmin has been not seeing outside. “Mingyu just went to get Minghao, at least I think that’s where he went, they’re both kinda freaked out.”

“Oh, okay I’ll come to you guys then,” Seokmin says, and he hangs up.

Joshua stares at the phone. Well, he didn’t seem too perturbed.

The sound of pounding feet makes Joshua look up again—Mingyu is back and still looking white as a sheet.

“I just banged on all the doors,” Mingyu says. “No one yelled at me!”

Joshua pushes past Mingyu and goes to the living room. “Maybe the city’s been evacuated,” he says, though he doubts that’s the case…surely they would have heard an alarm, or someone would have come and woken them up? He turns on the TV and...

Nothing. Static dances across the screen.

Joshua changes the channel. Still nothing. He goes to check the wires, and that’s when Minghao comes careening into the room.

“I AM FREAKING THE FUCK OUT!” Minghao screams.

“SAME!” Mingyu screams back, and they cling to each other and start babbling about how this is just like such-and-such a movie or TV show, Joshua stops listening after a few seconds. The TV wires are sound, so he keeps changing the channels only to keep getting static.

“Hey!” Seokmin calls as he strolls through the open door, “So I got a text from Jihoon, he says he’s with Wonwoo and Seungkwan and they’ve gotten in touch with Vernon…oh, and Chan just texted me!” He laughs, “Oh, he says Soonyoung is flipping out.”

“I’m flipping out!” Mingyu shouts, “How can you be so calm?!”

Seokmin falls onto the sofa. “Well, I just named a bunch of people who also have no idea what’s going on. They also say they’re all alone, but it’s not like, we’re all totally alone.”

Joshua does a headcount. “That’s ten people in the whole world accounted for,” he says dryly. Then he hits himself in the head—duh, he should call his parents. He selects their number and takes the phone off speaker.

A sharp dial tone sounds in his ear.

**‘The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.’**

Okay, now _he’s_ freaking out.

“Thirteen.” Seokmin says.

“Huh?” Joshua manages to ask.

“Jun and Seungcheol just texted me,” Seokmin clarifies, “And Jun is with Jeonghan.”

Joshua tries one of his study buddies. Same result as trying his parents. He tries his doctor. Same result. In a panic, he selects Vernon’s number. The phone rings twice, then…

“Hello?!”

“Vernon!” Joshua could almost cry, “You’re the first number I managed to get through to!”

“I haven’t had any luck either,” Vernon says. “I’m walking in the street, the middle of the fucking street! There’s no cars, I mean there are cars but they’re all parked…”

“What do we do?!” Minghao screams, tugging at his own hair. “This is crazy!”

Seokmin holds up his car keys. “Let’s go for a drive,” he suggests. “Maybe find more people?”

Joshua holds up his hand. “Where are you?” He asks Vernon.

“On my way to meet with Jihoon and them,” he answers. “We’re meeting on campus.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Joshua says, trying to think. Surely a college campus will be a sensible place to get answers, right? Someone’s always there, smart people will go there, won’t they? He looks at the three people gathered in his dorm, two of whom are still panicking. “Guys, let’s go to the campus, Vernon says he’s headed that way, we can all meet there.”

Seokmin looks mildly pissed. “Really? You want to go to school? You massive nerd.”

Joshua ignores him. “I’m going to text the others…”

“Oh, who else have you talked to?” Vernon asks.

Joshua lists everyone he knows to still be around.

“Everyone in our club?!” Vernon gasps, “I’m gonna kill Soonyoung, he didn’t text me back!”

“Chan says he’s flipping out,” Joshua relays. “I’m hanging up, I’ll see you there.” He looks down at himself—he’s still in his pajamas. “I should get dressed,” he says.

“Why?” Seokmin asks. “Who’ll see you?”

Indeed, who will see him? A shudder runs down Joshua’s spine, and he marches himself to his room. This is all some kind of…well, it’s not happening. He’s dreaming, or hallucinating, or someone is playing a really, super elaborate prank. He has to get dressed and brush his teeth, he has to act like everything is normal, because then it _will_ be normal.

* * *

Vernon considers himself a rational person; that being said, the situation he’s found himself in is pretty irrational.

He tries the door of a third coffee shop. Like the other two, it’s locked. He cups his hands around the glass and peers inside. No evidence that anyone has been inside at all. Whatever caused people to vanish, it happened before even the earliest risers could come and open their businesses. Vernon’s not sure if it would be creepier to find stores open and evidence that people left in the middle of transactions or making up orders.

He tries a 24 hour corner store that he’s gone to numerous times. The door is open, and his heart kicks into overdrive. Pulse pounding in his ears, he enters.

“Hello?” He calls. No answer. He glances at the cash machine—the TV is on, but shows static. A strange feeling goes through him, his hands are numb and he feels lightheaded.

“H-here kitty,” he calls, expecting the store’s cat to come running to him like she usually does. He listens closely, but there’s no pitter-patter of little feet, no answering meow. Vernon stumbles back and knocks into a shelf, bags go falling and he jumps.

“Sorry!” he yells, but of course there’s no answer.

He bolts for the door and runs the rest of the way to campus.

* * *

Chan tries to breathe the way his teacher suggested—in through his nose for five seconds, out through his mouth for six. Normally it keeps him from getting worked up, but honestly…

“They ain’t getting me,” Soonyoung growls, spinning in circles, holding a large knife aloft. “I don’t know how they got everyone else, but they’re not getting me! I refuse to be eaten alive, I refuse to be probed, I will not let them get their grubby tentacles on m—”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Chan finally screams, unsure if he wants to puke or shove Soonyoung into oncoming traffic…except there is no traffic. He swallows, wishing that he would wake up back in his own bed with his alarm ringing in his ears instead of the deafening silence of this empty street.

Soonyoung holds out his second knife. “Want it now?” He asks, for about the twentieth time since the two of them left their dorm.

Chan finally takes it. “Just stop muttering to yourself,” he says through chattering teeth. “If there are aliens here, you’ll tip them off to our location.”

* * *

“Do it again,” Jeonghan encourages.

Junhui takes a deep breath and smacks himself across the face. He groans in pain and blinks rapidly. “We’re still here,” he says.

Jeonghan looks down at his own hand, thinking about the time he woke up unable to feel it and so, in his sleepy stupor, decided to bite it real hard. He inhales through his nose, then sinks his teeth into his palm.

“Harder!” Junhui eggs on.

Jeonghan closes his eyes and bites down so hard he yelps and stops biting himself automatically. “Am I awake yet?”

“No,” Junhui says sadly.

So he’s bitten himself or no good reason. “This is absolutely nuts,” he says.

“Maybe we should like, run into each other?” Junhui suggests.

“How about you go run into that wall over there instead?”

“Why do I have to run into the wall?!”

“The pain thing was your idea!”

Junhui’s eyes light up. “Wait, I have a better idea! We should streak!”

Jeonghan feels his face heat up. “No way!”

“C’mon, it’s the oldest nightmare in the book, you walk outside naked!”

Jeonghan shakes his head. “Hell no, I draw the line at taking my clothes off.”

“What if I kick you real hard in the nuts?”

“OKAY, NOW YOU’RE PUSHING IT!” Jeonghan yells, and he shoves Junhui away as he continues to look thoughtfully at Jeonghan’s crotch.

“Pervert,” Jeonghan accuses.

The squeaking of the door makes them both lose their minds. They scream and fall out of their chairs, and a familiar scream answers them.

“Fucking hell!” Seungcheol cries from the doorway, hands over his heart, “You guys scared the crap out of me!”

“You’re one to talk,” Junhui says weakly.

“What happened to your face?!” Seungcheol cries, running down the stairs towards them.

Junhui touches his cheek. “Oh, I tried hitting myself to wake up.”

“And I bit myself,” Jeonghan says, showing Seungcheol the teeth marks in his palm.

“What on earth for?!”

Junhui looks sheepish. “Ah, well, pain is one of those things you’re not supposed to be able to feel in your dreams.”

Seungcheol looks at them like he’s torn between pity and exasperation. “So you thought you were dreaming but decided to come to class anyway?”

At that they both blush. “Well acting like it was a normal day seemed the logical thing to do.”

Seungcheol sighs. “Yeah, I get it. Well, come on, Jihoon just texted me that we’re all meeting by the fountain.”

* * *

Jihoon could never find the words to describe the collective tension that surrounds their little group of…what could he even call them? Are they survivors of some kind of alien attack, as Soonyoung seems to think? Are they rejects, the left-behinds of the rapture? Are they victims of some kind of vicious prank? Have they been kidnapped by scientists and forced into some kind of computer simulation…

Wait, what?

“Hand to god,” Seungkwan says, one hand over his heart and the other in the air, “That is exactly what is going on here.”

“Why would they pick us for that?” Joshua asks.

“I don’t pretend to know what evil scientists do to rationalize their deeds,” Seungkwan says.

Vernon rubs his temples. “I’d believe the alien thing before I believed that.”

“How do we know it is just us?” Wonwoo asks. “We’ve only explored a small part of Seoul, we have no idea what’s going on in the rest of Korea or the world.”

It’s true, they can access the internet in certain ways, but they can’t make new posts on any of their social media accounts and the latest new articles they can find are only dated up to the previous day. It’s as if at midnight, everything stopped and everyone disappeared. They can only call each other, they can’t call their parents, other family and friends, doctors, psychic hotlines, lawyers, store phone numbers, or news stations—and they’ve tried each of those options.

“We can’t possibly check out all of South Korea,” Joshua says.

“I have an idea,” Seungcheol says, “Let’s scream.”

“Scream?” Soonyoung echoes.

Seungcheol nods, “If we all, the thirteen of us, scream as loud as we can, it’s so quiet that anyone around would hear us.”

“Including the aliens!” Soonyoung shouts.

Junhui rolls his eyes. “If the aliens haven’t found our loud-ass selves by now then I think we’re safe.”

“It sounds cathartic to me,” Mingyu says. And then he takes a deep breath and shrieks at the top of his lungs.

The sound echoes slightly. Mingyu does it again, and this time Joshua joins in.

It’s enough to make them all join in. They scream wordlessly, some of them in short, high bursts and some as if they’re trying to break a record for longest scream. Some have their eyes shut, some tip their heads back to the sky. How long it lasts Jihoon can’t say, but at some point they all stop and listen for any kind of response.

One of them breaks the silence with another scream, Jihoon can’t say who, but a few more join in. This time they sound panicked. Some of them remain silent, staring at nothing, some stare at each other.

Soonyoung starts screaming “HELP” over and over. Chan starts to cry and scream. Vernon is crying. Joshua starts to hyperventilate. Minghao covers his ears and screams so loud that they can almost hear how much it hurts his throat, to the point that Junhui grabs him and shakes him until he stops. Jihoon kneels next to Joshua and hugs him, but finds he can’t say anything.

Finally everyone stops screaming, and the only sound is Chan, Minghao, and Vernon sobbing. Even then, the silence remains, and it’s crushing.

“What do we do?” Joshua whimpers.

What indeed?

This is so familiar, everything about this from the tears, to the physical pressure that panic exerts, to the metallic taste in the back of Jihoon’s mouth.

He remembers them all huddled in a dorm, the dorm that had been their home for years, their phones turned off against the barrage of text message from their friends and relatives, asking just what was going on, because none of them had any answers.

They had been younger then, full of dreams and optimism, all of it taken away with one headline. Their CEO and other higher-ups had been arrested on charges of fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement. The people who were supposed to make their dreams come true had been liars all along and were now criminals. Their managers were gone, off to find companies that could actually pay them, and now the thirteen of them were left with zero answers and thousands of questions.

They had wanted to be stars, singers, dancers, and actors. They were supposed to be competing against each other, but they had become friends instead. After the dismantling of their company, that friendship was all they had left. Half of them were broke, all of them were bitter, and none of them wanted to be apart from each other after all they’d been through. They all enrolled in the same college and vowed to encourage each other in the face of all they’d lost and hopefully try to do something with their lives.

And now they’re really, truly alone.

“Maybe this isn’t a bad thing?” Jeonghan whispers.

They all look at him. He’s staring out at the campus, pale and shaking, but he continues with a firm voice. “Maybe…maybe this is karma.”

“Karma?!” Joshua explodes, “How can this be karma?! We didn’t deserve this!”

“No,” Jeonghan says, sounding excited or nervous, Jihoon can’t decide which. “Think about it, we’re alone in…in maybe the world! We can do anything we want!”

That makes them all pause.

“We can do anything we want!” Jeonghan repeats, and he starts to smile. “We’re alone! Nobody can tell us what to do!” he laughs, “We can do anything we want!” he raises his arms and let out a whoop that echoes. He runs a short distance, then starts jumping up and down. “WE CAN DO ANYTHING WE WANT!”

They continue to stare at him. Jeonghan twirls in a circle, arms outstretched, staring at the sky and laughing.

“He’s cracked,” Vernon says.

“No I haven’t,” Jeonghan says with a wide smile. “There’s no one here! No teachers, no cops, no CEOs,” he gets a positively manic look in his eye. “We can go wherever we want! We can break into fancy stores and try on—we can take designer clothes! We can drive—drag race down the highway!” He runs a hand through his hair. “We can do anything we want,” he says again, this time sounding awestruck.

“Anything we want,” Soonyoung says. His eyes widen. “Anything…”

Suddenly it’s like all of them are seeing the possibilities. Anything they want at all…

“We can set off fireworks!”

“We can spray paint buildings!”

“We can set off the sprinklers in the science lab!”

“We can run naked in the streets!”

“Will you stop with the naked already?”

“We can break into pastry shops and eat all the cupcakes!”

“We can do the same in candy stores! We can take all the candy in the corner stores!”

“WE CAN STEAL THE WHALE!”

Everybody stops and stares at Seokmin.

“The what?” Jihoon and a few others ask.

“The whale!” Seokmin repeats, “The one in the big grocery store! I fucking love that whale, man!”

“Oh god,” Joshua says, rolling his eyes. “That whale,” and then he starts laughing.

They all start to laugh, and it’s amazing. They’re hugging, crying again, but the fear isn’t there anymore. It’s nice to be excited about something.

“You know what?” Vernon says, “I’ve always wanted to have a food fight.”

“Sounds messy,” Seungkwan says.

“You want messy?” Minghao says, “I’ve always wanted to do color run—you know where you get pelted with those colorful powders?”

Wonwoo gasps, “Hey, I know where we can get some of those!”

“I know where we can get fireworks,” Seungcheol says.

“I know where we can get spray paint!” Jeonghan says, “It’s right here on campus, in the art building!”

“I have the best idea!” Mingyu says, “We should have an absolutely crazy party!”

“It’d just be the thirteen of us though,” Junhui says, “How much of a crazy party could that be?”

“Hey,” Junhui says with a teasing smile, “We can get pretty crazy, especially if you throw color powder, a whale, and a food fight into the mix.”

“Let’s do it!” Jihoon says, “We can have it in the old warehouse by our dorm—mine, Wonwoo and Seungkwan’s.”

“Can I get my whale first?” Seokmin asks.

“We can split up,” Vernon says, “We can go off and get like, snacks and decorations and cool stuff like that.”

“But we should stay in big groups,” Soonyoung says, “I’m still not totally convinced there’s zero aliens around.”

“And there should be a driver in each group,” Chan says.

They all nod and split themselves up into three groups, making sure each of them know what it is they’re doing. They part ways in much better moods than when they first met up.


	2. Healing

They call it a grocery store, but it’s really more like a wholesale store. It carries food, household goods, some basic clothing articles, outdoor furniture…and blow up pools, where Seokmin’s whale dangles over the display. It dangles from the ceiling by chains, and must be at least 3 meters from the ground.

“How are we going to get it down?” Minghao groans.

“Please, this store carries everything,” Seokmin says, “I’m sure we can find a bolt cutter, and we can stack these boxes,” he kicks one of the large boxes containing a blow-up pool, “And make a staircase.”

“Or use a ladder,” Joshua says, gesturing to an aisle that claims to have tools.

They do find a ladder, and bolt cutter (as well as garden shears), and Minghao finds a hand-held vacuum.

“What’s that for?” Mingyu asks, gesturing towards the vacuum.

“That thing has to be covered in dust,” Minghao says.

It’s harder than they thought to get the whale down—after all, once they cut the chains, the whale could fall to the floor and break or hurt someone.

“This is an awful lot of trouble,” Minghao says as he comes back with several lengths of rope. They’ve stacked the boxes beneath the whale so someone can sand underneath and catch it, after Seokmin ties the rope around the jump-ring and cuts the chains, he’ll gently lower the whale down to the catcher.

“Seems kinda dangerous too,” Joshua says.

“Hey, I’m getting my whale one way or the other!” Seokmin says.

It takes nearly an hour and by the end of it they’re all sweaty and dusty, but the whale is safely down, clean, and no one got hurt.

“Mine,” Seokmin says, clutching the whale. “It’s mine, mine, mine!”

“It was lighter than I expected,” Mingyu says, wiping sweat and dust from his eyes. “Is it made of Styrofoam?”

Seokmin cackles, “IT’S ALL MINE!”

“Well as long as he’s happy,” Minghao says, “Can we go now?”

“Go get snacks? Yeah, sure,” Joshua says.

Groaning, the three of them get to their feet (Seokmin is already gently loading his whale onto a push cart), and after taking a single step, Joshua turns back around and grabs one of the pools, grunting as he lifts it.

“Our party can be a pool party,” he says, heaving the pool into a shopping cart.

“I’m gonna go put Alice on the car!” Seokmin says, pushing his whale towards the exit.

“He named it,” Minghao says weakly, staring after Seokmin as if torn between fondness and ‘I don’t know him’.

“After all that trouble, he should _marry_ it,” Mingyu mutters.

Joshua aims for the snack-foods aisle. “Let’s get a move on, I want cheesepuffs.”

* * *

Jeonghan is kind of surprised to find that the door to the art supply room isn’t locked, but who is he to ask questions on a crazy day such as this? He grabs a case full of spray paint, a box of rubber gloves, and some paint brushes because why not? He leaves the art building and pauses to but the box in his car, then goes to the English department to meet with the other members of his group. When he finds them, they’re going through their latest test.

“She didn’t grade ‘em yet,” Chan says gleefully as Jeonghan asks what they’ve been up to. “We’re changing our answers.”

“Hell yeah!” Jeonghan cheers, “Stick it to the man!”

“Think we have time to do the same in the Math department?” Junhui asks.

“If we hurry!” Soonyoung says.

They spend an hour running around, hunting down tests they can change the answers to, and then they head out to do their assigned task—raid fast food restaurants and see what they can get that’s more substantial than chips and maybe doesn’t need to be cooked for very long.

They have to break a few windows and glass doors to get it done…and damn does it feel good.

“I always knew these patties were frozen,” Seungcheol says as he opens a drawer.

“Well, grab a bunch of them,” Soonyoung says. He’s tossing bags of buns into an empty crate, and Junhui and Chan are taking bowls of pre-made salads out of the fridges.

“Really, salad?” Jeonghan asks.

“I’ll be damned if we get scurvy from not eating veggies,” Chan says. “Hey, grab the mustard and stuff, will ya?”

“And text the shopping team,” Junhui says, “Tell them to get a grill.”

Jeonghan sends the text, and gets one back. “Joshua says we need to get the grill, there’s no room in Mingyu’s crappy car,” he relays.

So they pack up the food and drive off to find something to cook it on.

Do they need a meat smoker?

Why yes, yes they do.

* * *

“Mingyu says we should get pool floats,” Vernon says as Wonwoo packs the colorful powder packets into their car, “And anything else we want to have at the party as far as games and stuff.”

“TRAMPOLINE!” Seungkwan shouts.

“YES!” Vernon shouts back, and the pair of them high five excitedly. They race back into the party goods store, shouting for Jihoon to hurry up.

Jihoon follows at a slower pace, grinning fondly. There’s a melody dancing in his head for the first time in a long time, and he heads down an aisle with musical instruments—they’re not the best kind, meant for cheap gifts, but there is a piano, and he grabs it.

“TRAMPOLINE!” Comes a shout from across the store.

Jihoon laughs quietly as he walks up the aisle and almost bumps into Wonwoo.

“Check it out!” Wonwoo says, holding up a bag of masks, fake mustaches, character glasses, and foam noses. “Perfect, right?”

“Absolutely,” Jihoon agrees. “What else should we bring?”

“TRAMPOLINE!” Vernon and Seungkwan scream as they run past, rolling a trampoline frame in front of them.

“NOT THAT WAY!” Jihoon shouts, “It won’t fit through the door!”

The boys run back the other way, still pushing the frame. “OTHER WAY!” They scream together.

“Oh god,” Wonwoo says, “How will we get that thing out of here?”

“The big shipping doors in the back?” Jihoon says.

Wonwoo smacks him upside the head. “No, dummy, I mean like, drive it out of here!”

Oh. Jihoon frowns. “Wasn’t there a little truck in the driveway?”

“You can’t drive a truck!” Wonwoo sputters.

“Who’s gonna arrest me though?” Jihoon asks with a smirk. He runs after Vernon and Seungkwan. “Guys, we’re gonna put it in the truck!”

* * *

“Oh lord,” Joshua says, staring at his phone. “Vernon and Seungkwan found a trampoline.”

“They what?!” Minghao asks.

Mingyu slams on the brakes.

“Watch it!” Seokmin snaps, “Don’t throw Alice off!”

“Change in plans,” Mingyu says, turning the car sharply and taking off in another direction. A few blocks later, he stops in front of an electronics store. He parks the car and takes with him the brick they used to smash their way into the supermarket. When he breaks into the music store, no alarms sound, just as they didn’t in the store.

The other three boys exit the car and follow Mingyu inside. He’s standing on top of a box holding a karaoke machine, and untying a massive disco ball from the ceiling.

“Oh my god,” Seokmin says.

Mingyu catches the disco ball, and Minghao catches him before he can fall with it. Mingyu looks smug. “If you can have a whale and they can have a trampoline, I want a disco ball.”

“Can we take the karaoke machine too?” Minghao asks.

“Uh, yeah we can! And we need some kind of music playing system!” Mingyu says.

“You know what else we should totally take?” Joshua asks, and he points at fine-looking guitar hanging on the back wall.

“Oooooh, choir boy!” Minghao crows, “Look at you!”

“It’s for Jihoon,” Joshua says.

They awkwardly cram the disco ball and the guitar into the backseat, and Mingyu drives with the ipod speakers on his lap, and Joshua holds the karaoke machine on his. Good thing there isn’t anyone around to explain themselves to, because they end up driving with the back doors open for lack of space.

Even with the detour, they’re the first to make it to the warehouse. Minghao gets the bolt cutters from the trunk and cuts the lock on the doors. They slide open, and Mingyu pulls the car right in.

“Looks big enough,” Joshua says, taking a look around.

“Looks kinda dirty,” Mingyu says disdainfully.

“It’s a warehouse,” Seokmin says as he starts to free Alice from the roof of the car, “Of course it’s dirty.”

“We’re going to throw colored powders around anyway,” Minghao adds.

“Yeah, but we’re also gonna eat here,” Mingyu says. “There isn’t even a table.” He starts texting, and the others start decorating.

Seokmin eyes a beam in a corner. “Now how to go about this?” he mutters to himself.

At that moment Jihoon, Wonwoo, Vernon, and Seungkwan pull up in their truck. Seungkwan is the first to exit, looking rather green.

“Never again,” he gasps, falling face-down on the ground.

“Hey, I wasn’t that bad!” Jihoon calls from the driver’s seat.

“Who let that man drive?” Minghao laughs.

“No cops!” Jihoon says as he jumps down.

“Jihoon, we got you something!” Joshua shouts, running to the car.

“What’d you get us?” Vernon asks.

“Nothing, you got a trampoline!” Seokmin says, “Now get over here and help me with my whale!”

Joshua hands Jihoon the guitar, beaming. “Surprise!”

Jihoon’s jaw drops and he take the guitar gently. “Where did you get this?”

“No cops,” Joshua says.

“Oooooh, look at you!” Vernon shouts, laughing until Seokmin bops him on the head and tells him to pay attention.

“Jihoon took a piano too,” Wonwoo says.

Joshua and Minghao look amazed. “You thinking about writing and composing again?”

“Maybe,” Jihoon says, “But first, we gotta get this fucking trampoline set up.”

By the time the remaining five boys show up with food, Alice is hanging from the ceiling, the trampoline is half-set up, and a hose has been found to fill the pool.

“We got food!” Jeonghan calls, “And spray paint!”

All the ready-to-eat food is devoured, any thoughts of a table forgotten as they either stand or sit on the floor and eat with their hands. Once they run out of ready-made food and realize chips and cheesepuffs aren’t going to cut it, they fire up the grill, with Junhui and Seungkwan as the grill masters. Mingyu makes Seungcheol join him in locating a few tables and chairs (they take the truck), while everyone else finishes setting up the trampoline and decorating the warehouse.

When Mingyu and Seungcheol return (miraculously with themselves and the truck in one piece), everyone helps to set up the tables and chairs. By the time the food is ready, the sun is starting to go down and everything is all set for a party.

“So when does the party start?” Soonyoung asks.

“I guess whenever we want,” Jihoon says.

At the same time Wonwoo says, “When we’re done eating, I guess.”

“Shouldn’t we wait ‘til sundown?” Mingyu asks, “That’s how they do it in the movies.”

“I thought we were already partying,” Chan says. “We’ve got food, the atmosphere is right…all we need is music!”

“On it!” Vernon shouts, leaping up from the table.

“NO DRAKE!” Joshua yells, “He doesn’t even write his own lyrics!”

“My ipod my rules!” Vernon yells back, and Minghao leaps up as well, brandishing his own ipod. There’s a brief scuffle for the speakers, but Vernon wins…and “This is why I’m Hot” blasts out of the speakers.

“Oh my god,” Joshua and Jihoon groan.

“Let’s get this party started!” Vernon yells.

Well, they change the song, but soon they’re all singing and dancing…sort of, they kind of form a circle and kind of bop along, occasionally pushing someone into the center of the circle. It’s a lot like the old days in the practice room. After a while Chan suddenly gasps.

“SHIT!” He screams.

“What?!” Seungcheol, Jihoon, and several others gasp.

“NO COPS!” Chan wails, “We could be drinking!”

A few jaws drop.

“We should be drinking!” Chan continues sourly, “Half of you guys are legal!”

“HELL YEAH!” Jeonghan whoops, “Let’s go get some beer and soju!”

“Beer’s nasty though,” Vernon says.

Seungcheol starts to laugh, “I can’t believe we broke into fucking stores but we forgot alcohol is a thing!”

“Okay, so let’s go,” Joshua says, “Not like anyone can steal our stuff.”

They pile into the cars (only two since many people refuse to get in the truck), they drive with the windows and even a door open, and crammed into each other’s laps. They scream into the empty streets because they can, and they raid a corner store of all its’ beverages and more snacks. Unable to wait, Chan cracks open a beer in the store and takes a sip. He makes a face, but takes another one.

“It’s an acquired taste,” Jihoon says.

Back at the warehouse, the drinks loosen them up. They dance more freely, they spin the disco ball, they laugh and egg each other on to try break dancing. After a while, they remember the colored powder.

Vernon is the first to get a packet open, and he flings a handful of the powder at them. After that, it’s an all out war.

Seungkwan jumps on the trampoline and flings a handful of purple powder down on it, and as he jumps it billows up around him. It looks like something out of a dream, a purple haze filling the room. Chan jumps in and adds a yellow powder to the mix, and they both jump around in it until they trip each other and fall over, a cloud billowing up an enveloping them.

It gets in their eyes and mouths, it’s all up in their hair, and forget about their clothes. It’s in their ears, under their fingernails, and all over the warehouse.

Who knows how long it is before they finally collapse, out of powder and exhausted. They’re scattered about, but slowly gather on what was their dance floor and lay down. They end up in a circle, staring up at the ceiling and trying to catch their breath.

“The whale got some powder on her,” Minghao says, breaking the silence.

“It looks pretty,” Seokmin says.

“This was a good day,” Jeonghan says. “All the panic from this morning aside…it was a really good day.”

Vernon pushes himself up on his elbows. “D’you think we’ll wake up tomorrow and…none of it will have been real?”

“I almost hope so,” Joshua says, “Or we have a lot of explaining to do.”

“I hope it’s not over,” Chan says, “I want another day.”

“We do still have to set off fireworks,” Wonwoo says, “And have a food fight.”

“What if it never ends?” Vernon presses.

They fall silent again. It’s been a long, emotional day, and the question hits hard. They realize that Vernon is crying, and Chan isn’t far behind.

“This is fun,” Vernon whispers, “But…I wanna see my family eventually.”

Seungkwan sits up and pulls Vernon into a hug. “One day at a time,” he says. “We don’t know what’s going on here.”

Maybe that’s the scariest part of all.

Soonyoung breaks the mood by leaping to his feet and yanking his shirt off.

“Dude!” Minghao sputters as Soonyoung also kicks off his shoes and socks.

“Hey, there’s a pool right there,” Soonyoung says, “And clearly we need to wash up, so…” he runs, leaping over anyone in his way, and launches himself into the pool. He breaks the surface screaming, “SHIT THIS IS FUCKING COLD!”

And that makes everyone laugh. Seungcheol is the next one on his feet and running for the pool he leaps in fully clothed and starts splashing the water in the direction of everyone else. “C’mon losers, get in here!” he yells.

Seungkwan hauls Vernon to his feet and they both don’t even bother to take their shoes off. Pool floats get tossed around and water sloshes out over the side of the pool. The boys all take turns jumping in and screaming about how cold it is, but it wakes them up and gives them the energy for a splash war. The water turns murky from the powder, but nobody really cares about it. Only when their lips turn blue and their teeth start to chatter do they get out and, upon realizing that they have no towels or clean clothes, they decide to walk to the nearest dorm—Jeonghan and Junhui’s.

But first…

“I’ve never liked this hunk of scrap metal,” Mingyu says, staring at his car. “And I’ve always wanted to drive it through something…like in the movies.”

Joshua wheels the doors to the warehouse shut and then make a sweeping gesture.

“That’s nuts!” Jihoon sputters, “What if you get hurt?! What if you get speared through the chest with debris?!”

But Mingyu isn’t listening, he gets in the driver’s seat and Joshua jumps in next to him. Mingyu has a wild look in his eyes, and the other boys egg him on from a good distance back. Soonyoung whips out his phone and starts recording.

Mingyu turns on the car, takes a deep breath…and drives his car straight through the doors of the warehouse.

There’s an almighty splintering noise, a cloud of dust rises, and Jihoon screams, but Mingyu and Joshua emerge unharmed and screaming with shock and glee.

“THAT WAS FUCKING WILD!” Mingyu screams, jumping up and down.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!” Jihoon yells, hands over his chest.

High on euphoria, youth, and disbelief, they run to the dorm. It’s a warm night and only a few blocks, and the streets echo with their shouts. It all feels so unreal, it doesn’t even feel like they’re on Earth any more. There’s nothing to drown them out, but there’s no one to hear them.

They have no need for propriety or obeying the laws, so they break into the dorms on the lower floors, shower, and steal pajamas and sheets. Once they’ve all showered and gathered what they need for the night, they head to Jeonghan and Junhui’s dorm and find a way to squeeze in somehow. Two to a bed, everyone else on the floor, they deal with it because they don’t need to say it, but none of them want to be alone tonight. Just in case.

“I want one more day,” Jeonghan says as they lay down and turn off the lights.

“One more day,” Chan agrees.

Slowly, even breaths and light snores fill the room.

One more day…

* * *

Minghao wakes up with Jeonghan’s foot in his face and Vernon’s knee in his back. They’re still in their weird sleepover-in-a-too-small-space arrangement. He sits up and looks around, Seungcheol is also up and grins at him.

Minghao points to the window. “Did you look?” He mouths.

Seungcheol nods and mouths back, “No one.”

Minghao’s heart skips a beat. He doesn’t know if he’s scared or happy—they have one more day, at least. He lays back down, hands over his stomach. There’s several grunts from the floor and then Seungcheol is all up in Minghao’s space.

“Scoot over,” Seungcheol says, shoving at Minghao.

He scoots as much as he can and Seungcheol squeezes in behind him, shoving his fingers under Minghao’s arms and tickling his ribs. Minghao yelps and squirms, next to him Vernon flails and sits up, bewildered and bleary eyed, and then he lays back down and snuggles into Seungkwan, muttering nonsense.

Seungcheol giggles, “Oopsie.”

“That’s what happens when you tickle people,” Minghao says crossly.

“Made you smile though,” Seungcheol says.

Minghao shrugs.

“We’ll set off fireworks tonight,” Seungcheol continues.

“And I want my food fight,” Vernon mumbles.

“Oh, awake are ya?” Seungcheol asks.

Vernon groans and stretches, then knocks his knuckles on Seungkwan’s head. “Alright, everyone up,” Vernon yells, “It’s a big empty world out there and we’ve got mayhem to make in it.”

Everyone lets out tired groans and starts to stir.

“I guess we’re still alone?” Seokmin asks.

“Not a soul on the streets,” Seungcheol says.

They all get up and scrounge some clothes, then head out to find a restaurant to break into. The eerie feeling hasn’t faded, and even though they’ve lived in the area for years, the silence makes everything seem unfamiliar.

“It wasn’t this creepy last night,” Chan says, and they all jump.

“Well, we had just watched Mingyu drive through a wall,” Wonwoo says, “We were kinda…hysterical.”

“No,” Junhui gasps, “I know what it is!” He’s frozen, his eyes wide. “There’s really nothing! Not even…we haven’t heard any birds, I haven’t seen any bugs either!”

“Shit!” Vernon shouts, clinging to Seungkwan, “Oh my god, I don’t know if I should be more creeped out or relieved!”

“Why would you be relieved?” Joshua asks.

Vernon laughs nervously, “Well, I mean…theoretically, that means there shouldn’t be any animals starving in the zoos and animal shelters, right? Especially the orphaned ones, not like we can help all of them…”

Seungkwan stares at Vernon with his mouth agape. “That may just be the sweetest thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth.”

“Thanks?” Vernon says.

“It is kinda creepy though,” Mingyu says, “I swear this is just like those movies where the astronaut ends up alone on another planet.”

“Fuck,” Soonyoung hisses, “I left my knife behind!”

Several boys roll their eyes. “Be real,” Jihoon says, “A knife won’t protect you.”

Soonyoung scowls. “Well just for that, I’m standing behind you, and they can probe you first!”

Chan snorts and chokes. “Oh god,” he coughs, doubled over and giggling, “Oh my god…”

Soon, they’re all laughing again, and remembering that they’re starving.

“Can we have a food fight now?” Vernon asks as they break into a Starbucks.

“Nah, this won’t make enough of a mess,” Seungcheol says. “We gotta go somewhere with an actual kitchen for that.”

They break open the fridge and start to heat some of the pre-made sandwiches and other goods. They try to follow some of the drink recipes, but in the end they settle for the canned and bottled coffees.

“So what do we do today?” Seokmin asks.

Jeonghan grins. “Well, I had an idea…if you guys don’t mind getting a little messy.”

* * *

Armed with spray paint and bricks, they race up the stairs to the fifth floor. The whole building is empty, yet it’s just as they remember it. The door still has a sign on the window, peeling letters announcing it as their old CEO’s office.

Seungcheol throws his brick through the window, breaking the glass. He reaches in and unlocks the door, and the thirteen of them stream inside.

“FUCK YEAH!” Chan screams as he kicks the drywall, leaving a crater behind.

They tip over empty filing cabinets and spray choice words on the walls. They tear the light out of the ceiling, and then they stream back downstairs to the old practice room. There, they break the mirrors by throwing their bricks at it. The building has long been stripped of anything valuable, but they tear apart anything they can get their hands on.

They put so much of their lives into this building. All the late nights practicing, feeling like they’d never be good enough but hoping that people would love them regardless, all the sweat and tears they shed…if they had been given the chance to debut, it would have been a holy place, instead it’s just a memory of their personal hell. Tearing it apart, breaking it into pieces, it’s cathartic—they can’t tear apart the people who let them down, after all, so this is a good stand in.

When they leave, they’re covered in dust and spray paint, and god knows what else, but they feel almost smug about the destruction they left behind.

“We probably inhaled asbestos,” Jihoon remarks.

“Eh, who cares?” Seungkwan asks, “None of this is real anyway.”

“I’m hungry,” Joshua says, ignoring how Seungkwan’s words made his stomach do a backflip.

They break into a restaurant, wash up in the industrial sink, and fire up the grill.

Joshua mulls over Seungkwan’s choice of words. ‘None of this is real anyway.’ It sure feels real…but he’s got to be right. There’s no way any of this could actually be happening. Whether this is madness shared by all of them or if he’s stuck in some kind of dream, or hallucination…maybe he hit his head and he’s in a coma, but this can’t be real.

“Josh.”

He jumps and looks around—Jihoon holds a chicken sandwich out to him.

Joshua accept it and takes a bite. Jihoon continues to stare.

“You okay?” Jihoon asks.

Joshua appears to have spaced out for much longer than he realized—everyone is sitting down, happily inhaling their food.

“What is happening?” Joshua asks. “Is this really real?”

“You’re overthinking,” Jihoon says.

“Aren’t you the least bit…freaked out?” Joshua asks.

“Only when I think about it,” Jihoon says dryly.

“C’mon, I mean it,” Joshua insists, “Am I the only one who think that maybe Seungkwan was onto something? This can’t really be happening, there’s no way to explain it.”

“Well, I’m real,” Jihoon says. “I know I’m here, present, feeling the same as I always have.” He pokes Joshua’s shoulder. “I know you’re real. So just enjoy what we’ve got. Eat your sandwich.”

“Oye!” Mingyu yells at them, “You guys look too serious! Lighten up!” And he throws a handful of fries at them. Only one hits…and it hits Jihoon right in the side of his face.

Joshua gasps. Jihoon turns slowly to Mingyu, death in his eyes.

“Did you just throw fries at my face?” Jihoon asks in a voice that makes Joshua shiver.

Mingyu looks panicked, but then Vernon leaps to his feet and woops.

“FOOD FUCKING FIGHT!” He screams, and he grabs a jar of mustard, and waves it about while squeezing it. Mustard goes flying, splattering Seungkwan and Chan, and after that it’s complete chaos.

Joshua finds himself joining in, his previous worries flying from his thoughts. He grabs a tomato, squeezes it in his hands, and wipes the juice off on Junhui’s hair. Jun shrieks and shoves fries down Joshua’s shirt, and then they both get blasted by Minghao with the mustard.

You can’t have dark thoughts during a food fight.

* * *

The sun is going down, and they’ve got a fire going, marshmallows and s’mores supplies on hand. Jihoon brought his new guitar along and said maybe they’d have a sing along later. Chan is begging for a sparkler while Wonwoo tells him to wait until it’s dark. Soonyoung and Seungcheol are setting up the fireworks, and everyone else is dipping their feet in the river.

Seokmin watches it all, pretending to tend to the fire when really, he’s trying not to break down. Potentially, there’s only a few hours left to whatever this is. It could all come to an end soon, and honestly, he wishes it wouldn’t. He blinks back tears and throws another stick on the fire.

“Can I join you?” Mingyu asks.

Seokmin didn’t hear him coming. “It’s smoky,” he says, hoping it provides an answer and explains his teary eyes.

Mingyu sits down and drapes his arm over Seokmin’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

There’s a lump in Seokmin’s throat that he has to fight against to get his answer out. “I don’t want this to be over,” he says. “I know I’d miss my family but…” he blinks and tears fall. So much for pretending it was just the smoke.

Mingyu pulls him closer. “Oh gosh, don’t cry.”

Seokmin clears his throat. “It’s the first time I’ve really been happy since…everything happened, you know?” He looks up and finds Mingyu getting teary-eyed, too.

“GUYS!” Chan suddenly shouts, “Oh no, Mingyu and Seokmin are crying!”

They’re set upon by their friends, all of whom anxiously ask if they’re okay. Mingyu wonders if he should make an excuse, but Seokmin answers honestly.

“I don’t want to stop feeling like this,” he explains, “I don’t want to go back to reality, not the reality we had where everything is shit and we’re all in debt because our dreams crashed and burned.”

It’s a sobering statement, and one that they can sympathize with. They’ve been having so much fun, and yeah they had some deep moments, but overall…they’ve largely ignored the question of what might happen when they’re not suddenly the only people left in the world.

“Maybe we can still find ways to be like this,” Joshua says.

“We literally stole everything we have right now,” Seokmin says. “We’d have to go back to school and worry about homework and stuff.”

“But we should hang out together more,” Seungcheol says. “I think…I think that’s what this was about. We haven’t been together, the thirteen of us, in such a long time, and I want to change that.”

“Me too,” Vernon says. “I missed this.”

Jihoon breaks off from the group and grabs his guitar. Everyone’s eyes follow him.

“I’ve been working on something,” he says. He plays a few notes, then plays a sweet melody while he sings.

_“I want to pick and gather all_   
_the pretty words for you._   
_ They stick in my_   
_ throat in front of you_

_I promise myself, while drinking_   
_ a glass of water in the morning, to tell you_   
_ I will confess what has been_   
_ on the tip of my tongue tomorrow_   
_ You are pretty.”_

“That’s really cute,” Wonwoo says.

“Is there more?” Chan asks.

“A bit,” Jihoon says, “That’s the chorus. I was thinking…maybe…maybe we could all sing it together.”

Several jaws drop.

“I can copyright it,” Jihoon says. “We can upload it to YouTube. I still get messages on Instagram from old fans, saying they’re waiting for us.”

They’ve all gotten those messages, but had all but lost hope.

“But we don’t have a company,” Minghao blurts.

“Maybe we don’t need one,” Jihoon says. “We were basically doing everything ourselves anyway. We can make songs, create choreography. If we try, if we get noticed…”

“I want to do it,” Mingyu says. “I want us to try.”

Seokmin smiles. “Yeah…me, too.”

Chan nods. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

What, indeed? The worst has already happened…and they survived, together.

Seokmin wipes his face and his smile grows. “Can we set off the fireworks, now?”

They line up along the bank of the river. Their illegal fireworks light up the sky, and they cheer loud enough to drown out the snaps and bangs. They light up the sparklers and write in the air with them.


	3. Happy Ending

“WAKE THE FUCK UP!”

Joshua jumps so bad he almost falls out of bed. “WHAT?!” He screams back, unsure of who’s even making a fuss at—what time is it?—god’s hour of the morning.

Wait a minute…this all feels very familiar. Fear rushes him at once, the feeling of being alone in the world, the worry that it started over, that he’s trapped in a time loop—

But that’s not Mingyu’s voice yelling at him, it’s Seokmin.

And then Joshua hears cars down on the street.

He untangles himself from his sheets and bursts out of his room, finding Seokmin in the living room holding Alice over his head.

“What the hell?” Joshua gasps.

Seokmin laughs. “I called my mom! I asked her what day it is! We haven’t lost any time but it’s still here!”

Mingyu joins them in the living room, phone pressed against his ear. “I love you too, mom,” he says, tears in his eyes. He hangs up and laughs. “It’s the same day!” Then he gasps. “Oh, the whale!”

“Yeah, can I keep her here?” Seokmin asks, “My roommates might not like having her around.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Mingyu says, “Move in with us.”

“Yeah,” Joshua says, grinning. “Yeah, we can make it work. We can make everything work.”

Seokmin looks close to tears. “I’d like that.”

Joshua’s phone rings from his room and he races to answer it. It’s Jihoon, and he’s crying.

“Josh, I still have the guitar,” he cries. “I don’t know how but I do, and it’s like no time has passed but I know it all happened!”

“I know it too,” Joshua says. “Seokmin still has his whale.”

The next hour is a blur of phone calls. Joshua calls home despite the time difference, just to say he loves his mom. His friends call, each saying they remember what happened but inexplicably, they all have something from the days they were alone. Mingyu’s car is undamaged, Vernon has found the trampoline packed up in a box under his bed, there’s pictures and videos. They end up meeting in Jeonghan and Junhui’s apartment, thirteen of them crammed in just like when they had their group sleepover.

“So here’s the thing,” Soonyoung says, “I don’t remember going to sleep last night, never mind going back to my own apartment.”

They all nod in agreement.

“I remember watching the fireworks,” Minghao says. “Maybe we…fell asleep there? Maybe time reset?”

“How on earth did this happen?” Vernon asks. “What was all that?”

“A gift,” Jeonghan says. “The universe gave us time to heal and think.”

They all take a minute to digest that. It could be that there’s a scientific explanation for what happened to them, if only they could find someone smart enough to figure it out. But a gift from the universe is certainly a nice thought.

“So, what now?” Seungcheol asks. “We talked about…about trying again. Do you guys still want to do that?”

“Yes,” Joshua says, not even needing to think. “The worst has already happened. We won’t lose anything by trying it on our own.”

“We can do it exactly as we planned,” Chan says. “The name, the subunits, we can keep the concept.”

“So we’ll be Seventeen,” Seungcheol confirms, “Everyone agrees?”

They all confirm their agreement.

“It won’t be easy,” Jihoon says, “Even if it can’t get worse, it doesn’t mean it’ll work the way we want it to.”

“I think we can manage,” Seungkwan says. “We did survive possibly the weirdest thing to even happen to anyone.”

“Think we can make a song out of it?” Vernon asks jokingly.

“Dunno,” Jihoon says, grinning, “But you know…parts of it might make a good music video.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!


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